Is there such a thing as ‘dressing for your age’? There is that saying, “mutton dressed as lamb”, but really, is that still relevant in today’s modern, liberal society? Should age play a factor in what clothes I wear?

I found an article online: You’ve turned 30 – Upgrade your shopping game with these brands. Who knew turning 30 would mean throwing the clothes of my 20’s in the bin and starting fresh! This could get expensive, I should start saving now for my 40’s wardrobe! The opening paragraph reads, “ your 30s are the decade when you can finally settle back a little bit and enjoy a quick moment of “I’ve got this.” I haven’t got this , I don’t think I have…what should I have got? Is there a checklist for things I should have ‘got’…did I miss it, was there an email I missed on my 30th birthday? This worries be straight away, because I am mid thirties and not sure I could say “I’ve got this” and feel confident.

Anyway, back to the clothing issue apparently my 30’s wardrobe should be about, “experimenting with contemporary brands and smaller boutiques that offer more unique finds than what’s mass-produced at your favorite fast-fashion fix”. So, can I no longer shop in Zara, H&M, New Look should these shops be dead to me? I always compared clothes and growing up to Topshop and Dorothy Perkins, you know you’re getting older when you browse Topshop and come out empty handed, but browse Dorothy Perkins and come out with a bagful of clothes. I don’t think I have reached the Dorothy Perkins age yet, but I do feel I have outgrown Topshop, so perhaps this article is onto something. Contemporary brands – what does that even mean, what are these contemporary brands…I delve deeper into the article. Relief – they list the contemporary brands, a 30 something should be wearing: Garmentory, Massimo Dutti, MM LaFleur, Zady, Trademark, The Design Republik, Aritzia and Everlane. Not heard of any of these, damn it…New Look just isn’t going to cut it anymore!

So, I will venture out on my next shopping trip with a new found sense of what I should be wearing, where I should be shopping and looking to shop and dress like the 30 something I am. Like they said, “I’ve got this”. Then I will return home with my various high street branded shopping bags and think, I haven’t got this!

So, I recently read an article asking me if I had achieved the same as the average 30 something. My first question was, what is an average 30 something? Am I above average, below average…define average! I started to panic…will I make the grade, have I achieved everything the average 30 year old should have achieved…what have I missed, all of this before I even continued to read the content of the article.

It opened with “The average 30-something prefers Oasis to Blur, drives a hatchback vehicle and has £4,300 in savings, so do you match up?”, it’s not looking so good for me!

“The generic 30-year-old will watch Game of Thrones over Strictly Come Dancing, go out to dinner twice a month and spend more of their earnings on pubbing than clubbing” – okay, this sounds more like me…so am I a generic 30 something, rather than an average 30 something…generic, ugh…I sound so bland!

According to the article, there is a simple quiz to determine if I am an ‘average 30 something’. If I say YES to 15 or more of the following statements, apparently, I should celebrate as I am considered ‘average’!

I matched 9…so below average and according to the article I “need to hit the targets to catch up with my peers” WTF!

At first, I felt ashamed, I am not even average, I am slacking as a 30 something! Am I not up to being a 30 something, have I blacked out and missed a chunk of my life, when I should have been preparing to match 15 or more of the above statements. Where did I go wrong?

Then I thought about it…who wants to be average? Never in my life have I aimed for average, I have always wanted to be true to myself, follow my own path, and just be happy and I think I have achieved that. To be honest, I am surprised one of the statements wasn’t about having a baby…I am continually asked when am I having a baby, it would seem this is something the average 30 something female is also expected to do…no pressure, but his is a whole other blog post!